White Album
1. Back In The USSR (Lennon/McCartney)
2. Dear Prudence (Lennon/McCartney)
3. Glass Onion (Lennon/McCartney)
4. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (Lennon/McCartney)
5. Wild Honey Pie (Lennon/McCartney)
6. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (Lennon/McCartney)
7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Harrison)
8. Happiness is a Warm Gun (Lennon/McCartney)
9. Martha My Dear (Lennon/McCartney)
10. I’m so tired (Lennon/McCartney)
11. Blackbird (Lennon/McCartney)
12. Piggies (Lennon/McCartney)
13. Rocky Raccoon (Lennon/McCartney)
14. Don’t Pass Me By (Starkey)
15. Why don’t we do it in the road (Lennon/McCartney)
16. I Will (Lennon/McCartney)
17. Julia (Lennon/McCartney)
18. Birthday (Lennon/McCartney)
19 Yer Blues (Lennon/McCartney)
20. Mother Nature’s Son (Lennon/McCartney)
21. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except For Me and My Monkey
(Lennon/McCartney)
22. Sexy Sadie (Lennon/McCartney)
23. Helter Skelter (Lennon/McCartney)
24. Long, Long, Long (Harrison)
25. Revolution #1 (Lennon/McCartney)
26. Honey Pie (Lennon/McCartney)
27. Savoy Truffle (Harrison)
28. Cry Baby Cry (Lennon/McCartney)
29. Revolution #9 (Lennon/McCartney)
30. Good Night (Lennon/McCartney)
The White Album is the ninth official British album and the fifteenth American album by The Beatles, a double album released in 1968. It was the first The Beatles undertook following the death of their manager Brian Epstein. Originally entitled A Doll’s House, the title was changed when the British progressive band Family released the similarly titled Music in a Doll’s House earlier that year.
Composition
Most of the songs that would end up on The Beatles had been conceived during the group’s visit to Rishikesh, India in the spring of 1968. There, they had undertaken a transcendental meditation course with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Although the retreat, which had required long periods of meditation, was initially conceived by the band as a spiritual respite from all worldly endeavours—a chance, in Lennon’s words, to "get away from everything" — both Lennon and Paul McCartney had quickly found themselves in songwriting mode, often meeting "clandestinely in the afternoons in each other’s rooms" to review the new work. "Regardless of what I was supposed to be doing," Lennon would later recall, "I did write some of my best songs there." Close to 40 new compositions had emerged in Rishikesh, a little more than half of which would be laid down in very rough form at Kinfauns, George Harrison’s home in Esher.
The Beatles left Rishikesh before the end of the course, with Ringo Starr and then McCartney departing first, and Lennon and Harrison departing together later. According to some reports, Lennon left Rishikesh because he felt personally betrayed by rumours that Maharishi had made sexual advances toward Mia Farrow, who had accompanied The Beatles on their trip. Shortly after he decided to leave, Lennon wrote a song called "Maharishi" which included the lyrics, "Maharishi/You little twat"; the song became "Sexy Sadie". According to several authors, Alexis Mardas (aka "Magic Alex") deliberately engineered these rumours because he was bent on undermining the Maharishi’s influence over each Beatle. Lennon himself, in a 1980 interview, acknowledged that the Maharishi was the inspiration for the song. "I just called him ‘Sexy Sadie’." In May 1968, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison assembled at Kinfauns, and demoed 23 songs that they composed at Rishikesh.
Division and discord in the studio
Despite the album’s official title, which emphasized group identity, studio efforts on The Beatles captured the work of four increasingly individualized artists who frequently found themselves at odds. The band’s work pattern changed dramatically with this project, and by most accounts the extraordinary synergy of The Beatles’ previous studio sessions was harder to come by during this period. Sometimes McCartney would record in one studio for prolonged periods of time, while Lennon would record in another, each man using different engineers. At one point in the sessions, George Martin, whose authority over the band in the studio had waned, spontaneously left to go on holiday, leaving Chris Thomas in charge of producing. During one of these sessions, while recording "Helter Skelter", Harrison reportedly ran around the studio while holding a flaming ashtray above his head.
Long after the recording of The Beatles was complete, Martin mentioned in interviews that his working relationship with The Beatles changed during this period, and that many of the band’s efforts seemed unfocused, often yielding prolonged jam sessions that sounded uninspired. On 16 July recording engineer Geoff Emerick, who had worked with the group since Revolver, announced he was no longer willing to work with the group.
The sudden departures were not limited to EMI personnel. On 22 August, Starr abruptly left the studio, explaining later that he felt his role was minimized compared to that of the other members, and that he was tired of waiting through the long and contentious recording sessions. Lennon, McCartney and Harrison pleaded with Starr to return, and after two weeks he did. According to Mark Lewisohn’s book The Complete Beatles Chronicle, McCartney played drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R." However, according to Lewisohn, in the case of "Dear Prudence" the three remaining Beatles each took a shot at bass and drums, with the result that those parts may be composite tracks played by Lennon, McCartney and/or Harrison. As of 2008, the actual musician/instrument lineup is still undetermined. Upon Starr’s return, he found his drum kit decorated with red, white and blue flowers, a welcome-back gesture from Harrison. The reconciliation was, however, only temporary, and Starr’s exit served as a precursor of future "months and years of misery," in Starr’s words. Indeed, after The Beatles was completed, both Harrison and Lennon would stage similar unpublicized departures from the band. McCartney, whose public departure in 1970 would mark the formal end of the band’s ensemble, described the sessions for The Beatles as a turning point for the group. Up to this point, he observed, "the world was a problem, but we weren’t. You know, that was the best thing about The Beatles, until we started to break up, like during the White Album and stuff. Even the studio got a bit tense then."
Other musicians
Harrison asked Eric Clapton to play lead guitar on Harrison’s "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Harrison soon reciprocated by collaborating on the song "Badge" for Cream’s last album Goodbye. Harrison explains in The Beatles Anthology that Clapton’s presence temporarily alleviated the studio tension and that all band members were on their best behaviour during his time with the band in the studio.
Clapton was not the only outside musician to sit in on the sessions. Nicky Hopkins provided electric piano for the single cut of "Revolution" (recorded during these sessions) as well as acoustic piano for a few others; several horns were also recorded on the album version of "Revolution". "Savoy Truffle" also features the horn section. Jack Fallon, a bluegrass fiddler was recruited for "Don’t Pass Me By", and a team of orchestral players and soothing background singers ended up being important contributors to "Good Night".
[From Wikipedia - Original page is here]
